Gaze at the stars

Day 11 Gaze at the stars, we have not been having much in the way of clear skies recently and with us still getting long days we don’t get to see much in the way of stars at the moment BUT when we do have a clear sky and it’s dark, the stars, moon and planets are amazing to look at.

The sky amazes me. I have been getting in to the whole star gazing, astronomy stuff recently. The Astronomical Society of Glasgow do loads of free events throughout the year, from lectures at Strathclyde Uni, to star and sun gazing at the Botanic Gardens (check out their Facebok page for events that might interest you).

I remember the first time I remember really noticing the sky at night, I was in Malaysia at the islands off the east coast, there is no electricity on the islands, when we went to the beach for dinner at night I remember looking up and seeing the sky covered in tiny white dots (obviously stars).

I had never seen anything like it. It really puts in to perspective how small we as humans are in the whole universe. The more I learn about stuff the more fascinating and mind blowing it all is to me.

Living in or near the city even on clear nights you don’t see the sky the way you do if you get away from civilisation and pollution.

I was talking about the moon on Thursday night when I went to my Pilates class and one of the guys there said that there are good clear look out points out round Loch Lomond area.

There is also the Dark Sky zone down in East Ayrshire where the observatory is (there has been a deal on 5pm to go there).

Take the time on a clear night to get out the city, out to the countryside and have a look. Even without a telescope just looking out there is unbelievably calming.

It can be pretty cold on clear nights so wrap up warm, take a flask of tea (or soup), if you are not driving, wine or beer if you fancy.